Just a quick question, I am working on a list of tourist railroads and museums that have gotten big Federal $$, either through TEA-21 or a direct appropriation. I am looking into the $1 million plus range. Which museums, if any have had this level of legislative success?

david.wilkins@bardstown.com

David:

I hope someone corrects me if I'm wrong, but regarding the ISTEA and later TEA-21 programs, the upper limits for individual grants/projects were limited and were less than $1mil. I know this is true for the last several TEA-21 grants here in Minnesota. But this may have been a local limitation.

The Minnesota Transportation Museum has enjoyed some success with the federal grant programs. The Jackson Street Roundhouse, Como-Harriet Streetcar Line and the building of the Excelsior Streetcar Line all benefitted from federal ISTEA and TEA-21 funds. In each case, however, all these individual projects were valued at less than $1mil.

Jim Vaitkunas
Como-Harriet Streetcar Line,

Minnesota Trans Museum

http://www.mtmuseum.org
jvaitkunas@msn.com

Boy, are you an optimist!

Some of the "inhancement grants" as they are called are in the 100 to 200 thousand dollar range.

I have not heard of anything bigger.

As David points out below, Minisota has put some dollars into the MN railroad Museum's projects.

Large states like here in California have not. Only grant to a railroad museum is a small station roof repair in Perris, CA.

Please tell when you get finished,For sure I would like to know who is getting money in million dollar range!

ted_miles@nps.gov

> Large states like here in California have
> not. Only grant to a railroad museum is a
> small station roof repair in Perris, CA.

It is for more than a station roof repair. There has been the various section (?) 106 approvals because the building is on the historic lists. It has been slow getting the project going -- hope one part of CalTrans does not fund because another part of CalTrans is slow in doing their work.

California distributed the allocation of the TEA-21 money to local county (or multi-county) transportation agencies or commissions. For Riverside county (where Perris is located) the first review and prioritizing of the applications was done by a committee made up of the city engineers from the county. Then the funding went from the top down to where the money ran out. City of Perris and OERM had another request that was not funded.

The way the process was applied every city, etc. in Riverside got a TEA-21 project funded. Some were landscaping, some were bike trails, Perris got the depot project.

Brian Norden

Does someone know what the Railroader's Memorial Museum in Altoona, PA got. I don't recall the exact amount, but I suspect it was over $1 million.



artschwartz@sprintmail.com

Brian,

As I said you guys at OERM were really lucky to get that grant.

I don't consider bike trails and landscapeing to be historic preservation, but that is what California got.

The Western Railway Museum has applied three times and so far 0 dollars!

It is a nice station by the way.

ted_miles@nps.gov

I think that was Urban Re-Developement money not
Tea-21 dollars.

Ted Miles

ted_miles@nps.gov